


Gatecrashers

by Katy_Stark



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Movie References, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), college students, vine references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27706207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katy_Stark/pseuds/Katy_Stark
Summary: The team go on a "No Tech" retreat for a month as a "team-building" (obligatory) vacation - no contact with the outside world unless its an emergency.Surprise surprise, there's an emergency. Its Pepper telling them Avenger Headquarters is no longer theirs, and the new owners have not been very open for negotiation with her. The vacation is cut short and the team head out to see if they can fix things.Hint: They don't.In fact, they make it even worse.
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

So, for the record, this was definitely not Tony's fault.  
  
And while we're on the record, Tony still has no fucking idea how it happened.  
  
Sure, he tried asking, but the only answer he’d ever gotten out of anyone is "bagels". And honestly, that could mean anything.  
  
Thus, the way he saw it, he could either take responsibility for this all being his fault, or he could go with the flow.  
  
So… bagels. Definitely bagels.

  
  


It had been Pepper's idea to start, clearly displeased with him after listening to one too many off-handed quips about his team members during dinner. Team bonding, she called it.  
  
 _“Take the team to your house in California. It’s one of your less tech-run homes. Take a vacation.”  
_  
He didn't need a vacation. Heroes don't take vacations, or at least that's what Capsicle kept reciting whenever he'd tried getting the old man to relax. Besides, he had a busy work schedule right now. _  
  
”Tony, I design your schedules. There’s nothing on your timetable that you can’t put off for a couple of weeks.”  
_  
Ah yes, making Pepper CEO had been both one of the best and worst decisions he'd ever made. Good for the company and its reputation, not so good for him and his inattentive attention span for meetings and clients. But still, a team vacation? The others had social lives too... well, most of them anyway. _  
  
”If you do this, you don’t have to go to the Bouchard dinner.”_  
  
Okay, that was cheating. Pepper had been nagging him for weeks about the dinner but Tony just wasn't up for it. Mr Bouchard was boring, and his wife even more so. He'd rather spend a day listening to Capsicle go on and on about how thankful he was to his father and how similar Tony was to the point where Tony considered taking out his arc reactor and throwing it across the room into the trash just to see Steve's face drop in horror. Of course, then he'd get the lecture of a lifetime but that single second of Superscared Supersoldier™ would be worth it.  
  
In the end, he’d conceded, betting on the others not being available.  
  
Snake Eyes - everyone from the original team was available. Steve, Clint, Natasha, and Bruce all had nothing scheduled for the time he suggested and so could not politely decline. He hadn’t invited Vision or Wanda, both of them asking for privacy while they figured out what to do with their lives now, and he could respect that so long as they kept contact. They had managed to get ahold of Thor though, apparently already on vacation on Earth with his girlfriend but happy to spend a few weeks "boosting warrior morale and enjoying glorious revels together".  
  
Tony didn’t think Thor understood that the team weren’t incredibly “buddy-buddy” after the Ultron thing. Sure, they were a team, but that didn’t mean they got along like old friends, especially not after Tony’s last dalliance with a robot with daddy issues.  
  
Regardless, the Asgardian’s enthusiasm made up for Tony’s severe lack thereof and plans were put in place. Tony picked them all up in the private jet and within the week they were all out in California, enjoying a Stark-built house with no electrics save for the essentials and no communication with the outside world other than the Emergency Line. Tony even had FRIDAY lock the downstairs lab because she was a little snitch and would definitely tell Pepper the moment he stepped foot inside.  
  
But, it was hardly a trial living in a house with multiple floors, offices, a games room, a common area with a large tv, a library, a practice yard, an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, and thickly wooded areas surrounding the place with marked footpaths so no one got lost. Each bedroom had floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a beautiful landscape outside facing the sunrise, and the whole place had dimmable lights should anyone need to be awake at three in the morning for a cup of coffee because sleep clearly wasn’t cooperating with them.  
  
Sidenote: he would have liked to have been warned _beforehand_ that Barton sleepwalks at three in the morning. _With his eyes open.  
  
_ They spent most of the first week settling into their own rooms and adapting their usual routines to the new situation. It wasn’t difficult, they had lived together before. They all had rooms at the new Headquarters and even if not everyone made the Headquarters their permanent home, the team all had personal effects and had made homes for themselves there. More recently, however, they’d decided to take a break from Avenging to chase their own lives. Then they’d fallen out of contact, whether by choice or coincidence was up for debate. _  
  
_The second week was the start of “bonding”. Clint and Natasha triggered it by sparring in the practice yard one morning, which of course caused Thor to get involved, and then Cap because he was the one least likely to get hurt should Thor get overexcited. Tony and Bruce decided to stay out of it and observe from the sidelines. There was some roughhousing, a few elbows and knees thrown about, Tony convincing Bruce to put a bet on who would win from the Assassination Siblings, and other than some minor bruises from well-placed punches everyone came out surprisingly okay. Lunch was spent together and conversation flowed easy, then later in the evening, everyone settled in front of the TV for a movie.  
  
Turns out they all had a soft spot for Disney. That saved them an argument. And everyone enjoyed microwavable popcorn, another argument saved. Sitting was a little more awkward, Tony having to retrieve beanbag seats from one of the spare rooms since when the place was first built it hadn’t been as a hotel. But, watching Cap slowly sinking into the navy blue bag while trying to follow the plot of The Little Mermaid was worth it. And Bruce seemed to appreciate Tony finding him a green one, settling down with a book lit by the TV light.  
  
The rest of the second week and the third all followed the same routine, just with little things slowly added in. Sparring in the morning, lunch together, movies in the evening. There was a corner store not far down the road they picked up food and other bits and pieces from which no matter how low they pulled their baseball caps or how tactical they thought they were being by splitting up, someone always recognised at least one of them. Lucky it was only small so no one made too much fuss over the Avenger’s sudden change in location, and Stark had yet to face an angry man or woman complaining about all the damage his past mistakes were still causing today. He hoped his luck would stretch for the final week of their vacation.  
  
It did not stretch.  
  
Tony was attempting to make a cup of coffee for himself late one afternoon on the fourth week when his luck officially ran out. "Who keeps putting coffee grounds in the garbage disposal? I'm not running a Bed And Breakfast for a biker gang, guys,” he said, finally finding a clean mug and starting to make a fresh pot after Natasha and Clint finished the last one together. The whole pot. In twenty minutes. Between two people. _  
  
 **"Sir, there is an incoming call from the Stark Emergency Line. It's Miss Potts."** _FRIDAY’s voice wasn’t normally a surprise to him having spent so many years with an AI at his beck and call, but there had been a severe lack of her recently that Tony jumped when her Irish timbre suddenly spoke up. _  
  
_Tony had FRIDAY activate the communicator by the wall and called out. "Pepper? How’s my favourite CEO?" He asked, picking up the new pot of coffee and starting to pour himself a mug as the team listened in.  
  
 _"I'm guessing by how calm you are you haven't heard the news then?"_ She sounded genuinely shocked by the idea Tony hadn't caved in yet.  
  
"Don't sound so surprised Pepper. I can put away my tricks and toys for more than a week, you know," Tony responded, taking a sip from the mug and quietly cursing as he burned his lip. Then her words registered. "What news?"  
  
"Remember when I told you months ago you were supposed to check all paperwork and leases for your new Avengers building?"  
  
"Yeah, and I did."  
  
 _"No. You didn't. Otherwise, it would still be under your name and I wouldn't have spent the last two weeks trying to get it back from its new owners."_  
  
Tony paused. "New owners?"  
 _  
"Tony, you and the team need to come back. Avengers Headquarters_ isn't owned by you _anymore."_  
  
Tony cast a glance to the rest of the team sitting around the common area and looking just as confused as he was. Putting his coffee mug down and giving himself a moment to let her words sink in, he pulled up a seat by the kitchen island and looked at the communicator. "Alright, alright, Pep. Explain what happened."  
  
  
  
  
 **Two weeks earlier...**  
Clicking her pen against the stack of work freshly dumped on her desk, Pepper sighed. It seemed to be never-ending recently. But if she didn’t do it, Tony certainly wouldn’t, and they’d only just pulled themselves out of the dipping stocks last time, she couldn’t afford to give it up.  
  
The phone on her desk beeped and she pressed the flashing button. "Stark Industries, Pepper Potts CEO speaking."  
  
A deep male voice came crackling through the other end. _"Miss Potts, this is Andy Whiteman from Head Office for property management in Upstate New York, and I just wanted to notify Mr Stark that the sale of his storage property has been successful."_  
  
Pepper paused, blinking twice as she recalled all the documents she’d signed in the last week, then the last month. She couldn’t remember a property sale. "What storage property?" she asked, and listening along as the man calmly rattled off the location for Avengers Headquarters.  
  
The _current_ Avengers Headquarters. The one most definitely _not_ up for sale.  
  
"Who authorised the sale?" she demanded sharply, putting her pen down.  
  
 _"Our team did after the property went on auction on the government listing."_  
  
"Why was it authorised? We didn't put it up for sale," she told them.  
  
 _"Well, its last payment was not paid and according to the leasing..."_ There was the sound of shuffling papers in the background before the voice returned. " _'If payment is missed, the government may assume this property and equipment therein as unused and put it for auction, preferably to a known charity or relief foundation if possible'_ ," the businessman quoted clearly from his own document.  
  
"Send me this lease."  
  
Moments later the remote printer spat out a ten-page document which she scooped up and scanned over.  
  
 _"It's all legitimate Miss Potts, from when Mr Stark first signed it following the weapons line closure,"_ Mr Whiteman defended his case when Pepper didn’t speak.  
  
Pepper found the paragraph he quoted, reading the print with a slow sigh. "Oh Tony, what have you done?"  
  
  
  
  
 **Present time...**  
"So, when I told you six months ago that you needed to update the contract and leasing on the building and land, I meant it, Tony."  
  
"Yes, yes, I made a mistake. Now the question is what can we do about it?" Tony questioned, elbows on his knees and sitting hunched over in the top floor of the Avengers Tower., the team and Pepper all gathered in the penthouse party room late the same evening. There was a thin layer of dust covering most surfaces due to lack of use in the last six months.  
  
Pepper slid the document back over to her side of the table from Tony’s. "Well, according to the paperwork, legally, we would have to repurchase it for whatever price they asked. But the talks I've been having with the new owners don't seem to be going anywhere. I thought you and the team could try and persuade them."  
  
"Oh, I'll persuade them," Tony answered, sitting up properly.  
  
"Tony, don't do anything crazy. It's lucky enough that they've answered my calls and messages and seem willing to talk but if you start provoking them, there might not be any chance." Pepper tried to keep him calm.  
  
"Relax, I'm not planning on flying my suit over there. Just give me their number."  
  
A moment later Pepper was handing over her phone with the display name “New Home Owners” and Tony pressed the call button.  
  
It picked up after two rings.  
  
 _"Hello, Miss Potts."_ It was a female voice on the other end, young sounding and businesslike.  
  
"Not Miss Potts this time," Tony replied, keeping his cool the same way he would when he was stuck in meetings full of people he couldn’t give two fucks about.  
  
 _"Who is it then? You know, it's rude to steal someone's phone,"_ the voice warned like a scolding mother.  
  
"This is Tony Stark. I want to talk about getting my property back," Tony introduced himself, adjusting his sitting position to balance one ankle on his knee and straightening his suit jacket.  
  
 _"Stark? No thanks, we don't want any."  
  
Click.  
  
_Tony took a few seconds to realise what had happened. He pulled the phone away from his face to stare at the ‘Contacts’ screen of Pepper’s phone. _  
_  
What the hell was that? Dismissed like a common telemarketer.  
 _  
_Giving a glance to the rest of the room watching him and waiting for an explanation, although most could guess what had happened, he redialled the number. _  
  
"Hello?"_  
  
"You know, it's rude to hang up on people, too."  
  
 _"I know! Listen to me do it again!"_  
  
"No, wait-"  
  
 _Click._  
  
He stared at the ‘Contacts’ screen.  
  
Again? Really?  
  
"Well, that went well," Bruce mumbled from the other end of the sofa fiddling with a pen.  
  
"Any other ideas, Stark?" Clint raised an eyebrow, a smirk at the corner of his mouth.  
  
"I don't see you making suggestions. Don't forget all the stuff you left in your quarters is forfeit to them since the sale."  
  
That reminder seemed to get everyone a bit more onboard. They may not live there permanently, but everyone had something they’d left behind in their rooms they didn’t want to lose. Clint’s new quivers, Steve’s shield, Natasha’s Widow Bites, Tony’s lab. There were all sorts of pieces of tech and equipment lying around in that building that in the wrong hands could do some serious damage. And Tony wasn’t yet sure if the hands of the new owners were the wrong ones yet.  
  
”I invited them here a few times but they don’t want to meet in person,” Pepper told him, taking the phone back and putting it on top of the printed Headquarters lease. “And unless they sell it back, there is no other way to make the contract null and void.”  
  
”What about our things?” Steve asked, hands in his pockets.  
  
”I didn’t ask. I assumed if they didn’t want to give back the building, everything inside would be the same story. I could ask now,” Pepper suggested but not quite ready to reach for her phone so soon after Tony made his presence in the situation known.  
  
"So, what are we supposed to do? I mean, it’s not like we can just go and knock on the front door," Bruce said, flicking the pen between his fingers.  
  
"Why not?" Tony asked. His eyes moved from staring at the contract on the table to the rest of the group. "In fact, that's exactly what we're gonna do," he declared.


	2. Visit 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's initial negotiation plan don't go entirely as desired.

Tony pulled up outside the Headquarters building without much trouble. Having been persuaded by Pepper to travel there alone because he was “less intimidating” without the rest of his team at his back, he’d left the remaining Avengers back at the tower to ‘recover’ from their interrupted holiday. Climbing out of the Saleen S7 and looking up at the building, he kicked the car door shut behind him and pulled off his sunglasses, making his way towards the front doors in a confident stride.  
  
On his walk towards the entrance, he noticed something.  
  
He’d expected something to look… off with the place. But nothing looked wrong. It was as if the place hadn’t been touched at all. From his view of the front of the building nothing was broken, it didn’t look like the place had been robbed, there wasn’t even a car visible that he didn’t drive here himself. Hell, not even any newscasters or reporters were outside catching the newest scoop about an Avengers failure. It was suspicious, to say the least.  
  
Finally, he reached the front doors that would lead to the main entrance hall on the ground level. They were locked, obviously, and when Tony attempted to type in his security code into the panel just right of the doors it refused him entrance.  
  
 _ **”Unauthorised Personel. Access Denied,”**_ the tablet reported back at him after his failed attempt. The voice didn’t belong to FRIDAY but it was still female, and it sounded just a little too emotionless to be anything but an AI.  
  
Tony pulled out his phone and FRIDAY onscreen. “Can you access this?” he asked, holding the phone to the tablet.  
  
Three seconds later, FRIDAY responded _ **“Failure to access. Something’s blocking me, Boss.”  
  
”Security breach attempted. Requesting motive?” **_Tablet Voice asked.  
  
”Trying to get my house back,” Tony said sharply.  
  
 _ **”Motive insufficient,”**_ it replied.  
  
Tony rolled his eyes and stepped forward, speaking clearly. “Can I talk to the owners, please? I have business to discuss.”  
  
The tablet remained silent for a few contemplative moments, long enough for Tony to start tapping his sunglasses against his thigh and looking around the building for signs of life, before the tablet beeped twice again.  
  
 _“Hello, Avengers Headquarters, how may I help you today?”_  
  
It was a man’s voice that answered, a little high-pitched and groggy-sounding but definitely male. And not one Tony recognised.  
  
”Yeah, uh, hi there. Am I talking to the owner of the building?” Tony questioned, deciding to ignore the “Avengers HQ” jab.  
 _  
”Sure are. Are you our new neighbour? Please leave any gift baskets with your address by the door and you’ll get one back within the week, thank you.”_  
  
Considering the location of the Headquarters was in the middle of many, many open acres of grassy fields without another person or building in sight, that was definitely a joke.  
  
”I’m not a new neighbour. I’m the old owner: Tony Stark.”  
  
There was a short pause on the other end, then the sound of a mug being placed on a counter and the man clearing his throat.  
 _  
”Do you have an appointment?”_ he asked.  
  
”No.”  
  
 _”Well, I’m sorry but you can’t show up without an appointment. You’ll have to go away, call us on the phone and arrange something, then come back whenever your appointment is set for. We’re very busy with moving in.”_  
  
”Can I make an appointment now?”  
  
 _”No. That’s ridiculous, because now we’re waiting for you to call. You already have the number we gave Miss Potts, its honestly very simple Mr Stark.”  
_  
 _”Adam, who is it?”  
_  
Tony recognised the new voice. It was the voice from the phone who’d hung up on him the day before.  
  
 _”He says he’s Tony Stark,”_ “Adam” replied to Voice 2.  
  
The sound of a barstool, probably from the kitchen island, scraping against the floor met his ears as someone sat down. _”Can we see some ID? Can’t be too careful. I heard someone stole Miss Potts’ phone the other day,”_ Voice 2 requested with blatant obviousness they knew what this was about.  
  
Tony dug into his wallet anyway hoping it would speed things along, pulling out both his driver’s license and the officially sanctioned Avengers ID he had, holding the two cards up to the tablet for viewing.  
  
A thoughtful hum. _“Looks fake to me, pal,”_ Voice 2 declared.  
  
”Look, Pep- Miss Potts said she’s been talking with you but you didn’t want a face-to-face meeting. I was hoping to discuss things in person by coming to you,” Tony explained, sliding his cards away into his wallet.  
  
Voice 2 asked, _”Yeah, so why didn’t you bring Miss Potts with you?”_  
  
There was a moment of silence when Tony realised that was actually a pretty good point, and that he definitely was not going to admit that out loud.  
  
”She’s unavailable. But, you can talk to me perfectly fine without her. I’d like to explain that putting this building on the market was an accident. Due to some legal paperwork issues, and some humdrum run-of-the-mill government mixups, it was put up for sale without our knowledge and we’d very much like it back. I’m prepared to talk terms with you,” he reeled off the usual bullshit he did when managing work meetings for Stark Industries.  
  
 _””Legal paperwork issues”? Is that code for “I Fucked Up By Not Renewing My Lease”?”_ Voice 2 asked, knowingly.  
  
”I wrote the contract just after shutting down my Stark Weapons line years ago, it’s practically out of date,” Tony claimed.  
  
 _”Sounds like SEP,”_ said Adam.  
  
Tony raised an eyebrow. ”SEP?”  
  
 _”Someone Else’s Problem. Not our fault you fucked up.”_  
  
Tony didn’t let that sway him. ”My point is I wanna buy it back. Though I’d prefer to talk figures with my potential new business partners in person,” he kept up his Professional Businessman Tony Stark image.  
  
 _”’Business partners’. He called us business partners.”_ Adam sounded pleased with the new title.  
  
 _”Well, I’m afraid Mr Stark you’ll have to arrange an appointment with us for that.”_ Voice 2 didn’t sound as pleased. _  
  
”Oh yes, still terribly busy with moving in and such.”  
  
_ Tony tried not to sigh. “And when do you think is the earliest I’ll be able to get an appointment with you?”  
  
A long hum. _“Definitely before the end of the year.”_  
  
”End of the _year_?” Tony repeated.  
  
It was the beginning of the summer. Five months on something that sounded like a maybe? He didn’t want to wait that long just for a _negotiation_.  
  
”No. I need better than that,” he demanded.  
  
 _”Well, I’m afraid Mr Stark that’s the best we can do for you at this time. If you don’t enjoy our terms, you are always free to leave,”_ Voice 2 replied.  
  
They knew exactly why he wasn’t going to do that.  
  
He sighed, tongue in cheek, before pulling out his phone again and dialling Pepper’s number.  
  
 _”Yes, Mr Stark?”_ she answered in her usual cut-throat CEO tone, as to be expected at this time in the morning in her office.  
  
”Pepper, can you call the owners of Avengers Headquarters and arrange an appointment for a contract discussion?”  
  
 _”I’ll see to it.”  
  
_ The call ended and Tony waited. _  
  
_The distant chime of a phone ringing reverberated through the tablet. Tony waited with folded arms as it continued to ring.  
  
And ring.  
  
And ring.  
  
Tony stared blankly at the tablet as the chiming ended.  
  
 _”Is something wrong, Mr Stark?”_ Voice 2 asked sweetly.  
  
Tony glanced down at his phone when it vibrated with a message.  
  
 **Pep Talk >** They aren’t answering my call.  
  
Tony shook his head and glared at the tablet screen as he heard the distant phone start ringing again. ”You’re not going to pick that up until I leave, are you?” he asked.  
  
 _”It’s rude to call someone you know is already busy.”_  
  
”It’s rude to do a lotta things, isn’t it?” he snapped back before reminding himself of the situation and his lack of power and reeling himself back in.  
  
 _”Would you like to book an appointment to discuss that?”_  
  
Oh my god.  
  
”Alright!” he shouted, conceding to these faceless assholes who clearly took enjoyment from seeing him annoyed. He took a moment to calm himself, clearing his throat and straightening his suit. “Alright. I accept your terms and I will book an appointment with you.”  
  
 _”Thank you, Mr Stark.”  
  
”Have a nice day!” _The voices cheerily sent him on his way and he used the walk back to the cars to convince himself not to damage his own property in irritation _.  
  
_ Reaching his car he slipped his sunglasses back on and put his hand on the door. Just before opening, he took a glance back at the building still showing no signs of life at all. He shook his head, sliding into the driver’s seat and pulling out of the driveway heading back to the Tower. _  
_  
  
  
  
  
Arriving back to the Tower an hour or so later and up to the at-home CEO office, Pepper was already on the phone when he knocked on and walked in.  
  
”No, I understand that. And I apologise, I wasn’t aware you would want to be informed.” Pepper continued to talk as Tony closed the door behind him, holding one finger up to keep him quiet. “Thank you,” she added to the other person.  
  
Tony took a seat in the guest chair on the opposite side of the desk to the woman, waiting as patiently as Tony Stark could wait for another person. There was some minor fidgeting and a quickly growing hatred for the eye-catching desk toy that spun around like a miniature windmill.  
  
Pepper reached for her silver pen, writing down something on her notepad. ”Alright, a week. That’s acceptable. Thank you, Miss Grey. We’ll be in touch.” Pepper put the phone back on the machine and sat back in her chair, manicured fingernails tapping against the desk as she levelled Tony with a look.  
  
”What?”  
  
”What did you do?” she questioned. At his confused expression, she explained with a tilted head, “You told me you weren’t going to go over there and stir up trouble but apparently you did. And I’ve just had a very lengthy phone call trying to arrange your ‘appointment’ to be sometime before the Christmas holidays.”  
  
The billionaire sat back with raised hands. ”What did I do? I thought I and the owners had a nice chat together. Speaking of, how many people are now living there? Am I suddenly selling out to a hotel or something?” Tony rolled from one side of the desk to the other in his wheeled chair to reach for their copy of the contract, flicking through it quickly.  
  
”We aren’t privy to the information. As far as I know, only two people have moved in and only because I’ve talked to two people.”  
  
”Right. An “Adam” and a “Miss Grey”,” he told her, folding one leg over the other and propping the stapled papers on his knee as he read through. “What exactly were they unhappy about?”  
  
”They were unhappy that I sent my “guard dog” over there without informing them first.” Pepper began to list off. “They were unhappy that you were apparently unprofessional and demanding-”  
  
”Pep, it’s me we’re talking about.”  
  
”-and they were unhappy that you apparently tried to break in.” Pepper narrowed her cut-glass eyes at him.  
  
”I was trying my door code and it didn’t work. Then I tried to get FRIDAY to access my security clearance but it wouldn’t work. They also have some sort of AI thing going on there. I need to look into that, see if they tried to integrate it using FRIDAY’s usual access point. Maybe I can manipulate-”  
  
”Tony, that would be illegal,” Pepper pointed out calmly, fingers tapping again.  
  
Yeah, he knew that. Maybe he was left a little sore by the discussion an hour ago and how it made him feel out of control of the situation.  
  
”I wouldn’t really be breaking the law. I would just be kinda bending it slightly. I mean, Pepper, they bought the building after the government didn’t even call to confirm we wanted to give it away. That’s not a fair deal.”  
  
”Tony, its a perfectly legal transfer of property,” Pepper reiterated much to his chagrin. “One that could have been avoided had you listened to me when I asked you to review the paperwork. But like always Tony, you act first and think later. You have a responsibility as Iron Man to take care of yourself and your team but instead on top of running the company, what _I’m_ doing now is putting out fires that you could have avoided in the first place had you listened to me.”  
  
Tony stayed quiet for a moment, studying his frustrated CEO. ”Are we still talking about the building?” he asked.  
  
Pepper took a deep breath in through the nose and let it out slowly, straightening up. “I reviewed the contract and the sale is final, no fine-print details can be manipulated and I can’t get a copy of their contract with the government property desk because of client privacy. So unless we can negotiate something personally, you’re out permanently.”  
  
Tony nodded, closing the contract and putting it back on the desk. ”Thank you, Pepper.”  
  
”I’m doing my job. Now please can you try and do yours?”  
  
He glanced at the writing pad on her desk with her delicate handwriting filling the page. ”So I’m scheduled a week from now?”  
  
Pepper nodded. ”Next week at two o’clock. Don’t be late, they said, or they won’t answer the door. And try not to break in again, Tony, or they _will_ call the police for trespassing.”  
  
”I got it. I got it. You’re the best, Pep.”  
  
”Good. Now you can be the one to explain to your team why you have to wait a week to try and retrieve their property again.”  
  
”I take it back. You’re the worst, Pep.”


End file.
